On Southeast Belmont Street, a new record shop hopes to ride the growing popularity of vinyl

View full sizePatrick Dennehy opened Blythe & Bennett Records last month with his friend Matt Roveto on Southeast Belmont Street, in part of the old Dixie Mattress building.Stephen Beaven/ The Oregonian

About two years ago, Patrick Dennehy sold most of what he owned, hopped into his pickup and drove from Portland to California with no particular agenda.

But when he visited friends in Santa Barbara who owned a record store, a little light bulb in his head flickered to life.

The store is small and dark and not at all exclusive in the music it sells. Foreigner? Yes. Sun Ra? Yes. McCoy Tyner? Sure. Bruce Springsteen? Yep.

“We’re trying to be a neighborhood shop,” Dennehy said. “To us that means having something for everybody. We’re small. We’re not cool or hip or expensive. We have very approachable stuff from $3 up.”

Blythe & Bennett Records, which opened July 8, will be joined this month by its new neighbor, the Tara Tibetan Collection, a shop that will sell handmade Tibetan wall hangings, gifts and religious items. The shop is expected to open Saturday.

The two stores occupy half of the building that housed the controversial old mattress business, which included a huge sign out front with two Confederate flags.

The two storefronts in the other half were previously converted into Straight From New York Pizza and a vegan bar called the Sweet Hereafter.

Dennehy believes the mix of shops and the consistent foot traffic along Belmont will attract record-buyers.

“I like the energy over here, especially since we stay open late,” Dennehy said. “Get a slice of pizza, a drink, look at some records. It reminds me of New York.”

Small record shops aren’t lucrative ventures and the 3300 block of Belmont has already seen the failure of Hall of Records, a vinyl shop/bar/café, which closed at the end of 2011.

But the sales of vinyl are on the rise, and Portland has always been an analog town, supportive of record shops in many neighborhoods.

The sale of vinyl last year was higher than at any time since 1997, according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry. The music industry is boosting sales of new records by including download codes that provide buyers with a digital copy of the recording.

“That’s one of the really smart trends that’s happening with vinyl and keeping the music industry afloat,” said Auggie Rebelo, the manager of the Everyday Music store at 1313 W. Burnside.

Dennehy and his business partner, Roveto, used to work together at Everyday Music. But Everyday Music includes five stores in Oregon and Washington, with tens of thousands of square feet.

Blythe & Bennett Records, on the other hand, occupies less than 1,000 square feet. But for Dennehy, that’s enough.

“You can start on a small scale if you have the knowledge of the music,” he said, “and you didn’t need a trillion dollars to get going.”